Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 82, NWS Raleigh, NC

August 16, 2003Stanly County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this flash flood warning at Aug 16, 2003, 10:02 AM EDT for Stanly County, North Carolina. It was in force for 118 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 16, 2003, 10:02 AM EDT (14:02 UTC)
Expired: Aug 16, 2003, 12:00 PM EDT
In force: 118 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Stanly County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 164 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:03 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 91 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1094 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -41 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 880 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -33 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WGUS52 KRAH 161407
FFWRAH
NCC167-161600-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
1002 AM EDT SAT AUG 16 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS EXTENDED THE

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  STANLY COUNTY IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 1200 PM EDT

* VERY HEAVY RAIN OVER STANLY COUNTY WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MID DAY. 
RAINFALL RANGING BETWEEN 3 AND 4 INCHES HAVE BEEN WIDESPREAD OVER 
THE ENTIRE COUNTY DURING THE PAST 2 HOURS...AND AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 2 
INCHES ARE POSSIBLE THIS MORNING.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION...SIGNIFICANT FLOODING OF BRIDGES ON 
LONG...BEAR...AND TOWN CREEKS AS WELL AS SMALLER STREAMS IS LIKELY. 
DO NOT DRIVE ACROSS AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

SOME TOWNS WHICH WILL BE AFFECTED INCLUDE...
  RICHFIELD.
  PLYLER.
  NORWOOD.
  LOCUST.
  BADIN.
  ALBEMARLE.

IN ALBEMARLE...TOWN CREEK IS SUBJECT TO FLASH FLOODING AND CAN CAUSE 
FLOODING OF HIGHWAY 52 DOWNTOWN. FLOODING IS ALSO LIKELY AROUND 
DELCO PLAZA AND FROM COLONIAL DRIVE TO QUENBY MALL.

HARDY AND UGLY CREEKS IN SOUTHERN STANLY COUNTY JUST WEST OF NORWOOD 
ARE PRONE TO FLASH FLOODING. BRIDGES IN THE ZION CHURCH ROAD AREA 
NEAR COTTONVILLE EASILY FLOOD FROM RAPIDLY RISING WATER.  

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING.
IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING FLOODING OR LIVE IN A FLOOD PRONE AREA MOVE
TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY.

$$

13

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS72 KRAH 161614
FFSRAH
NCC167-161730-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
1200 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR STANLY COUNTY EXPIRED AT NOON...

RAIN HAS MOVED OUT OF STANLY COUNTY AND THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAS 
BEEN ALLOWED TO EXPIRE. MAJOR FLOODING REQUIRING EMERGENCY RESCUES 
WAS REPORTED IN AND AROUND ALBEMARLE AT 1100 AM THIS MORNING...AND 
FLOODING WILL LINGER ON ROADS AND IN LOW LYING AREAS INTO THE EARLY 
AFTERNOON. 

DRIVERS SHOULD BE ESPECIALLY CAREFUL AS FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS 
WILL CONTINUE AND BRIDGES MAY BE IMPASSABLE. SOME STREAMS LIKELY TO 
REMAIN FLOODED INTO THE EARLY AFTERNOON INCLUDE...LONG CREEK...BEAR 
CREEK...AND TOWN CREEK. DO NOT DRIVE INTO WATER WHICH COVERS THE 
ROAD.

ADDITIONALLY...DO NOT ALLOW CHILDREN TO PLAY IN FLOODED AREAS.

$$

13

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 8:47 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Stanly	88 min
Aug 16, 9:40 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Montgomery	80 min
Aug 16, 6:11 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Stanly	109 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 2003 Every flash flood warning in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.